November 29, 2004

Urban Development Institute Breakfast Workshop
by David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal

Check against delivery

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 

Thank you for that kind introduction and for the opportunity to talk about the McGuinty government’s plan for growth across Ontario and in particular, in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area.

It’s always a pleasure to speak to the Urban Development Institute, which is a well-informed and reasoned voice of the real estate development and building industry. 

The UDI is an industry leader offering to government thoughtful advice on a land use planning and development. As always, your perspective continues to be centred on improving the quality of urban life in Ontario.

At the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal, we’ve been working very hard to come up with a new and innovative plan for growth. 

It’s one that will help rebuild and renew our public amenities while planning strategically for future generations to ensure the infrastructure is where we need it, when we need it.

The Greater Golden Horseshoe is one of North America’s fastest growing regions – behind only Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta.

Over the next 30 years, we will welcome almost four million new residents in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.  It’s good because growth means investment, jobs – about two million jobs – and a better standard of living, better health care and better education. 

However, we need to ensure we can accommodate this growth so people will have a place to live, work and play while protecting environmental and agricultural land assets. 

Ontario has a strong history of planning for growth in a way that contributes positively to our overall quality of life. 

However, we have fallen behind when it comes to meeting the public infrastructure needs that this growth brings. 

Quite frankly, we are in this situation because successive governments did not plan for today’s needs. 

The growth projections were all there but we didn’t plan strategically for where and how it should occur in order to align and prioritize infrastructure investments to support it.

Instead, infrastructure investments – like the development that required them – were fragmented and we find ourselves in an infrastructure deficit. 

It’s not a matter of stopping the tide of growth that’s coming; we welcome the jobs, investment and improvement to our overall quality of life it will bring to Ontario.

But growth also brings its challenges – challenges we are already witnessing such as congestion and environmental degradation, all of which add potential for a diminished quality of life.  So, it quickly became clear to the McGuinty government that we needed proper growth management planning today .

And Ontarians told us we needed action.

On October 28th, I introduced the Places to Grow Act – Bill 136 – which deals with the challenges of accommodating growth across Ontario using a blueprint for urban development that improves our lives and protects the environment. 

This is historic legislation that, if passed, would enable us to plan for population and employment growth rationally and coherently. 

In essence, the Act is framework legislation, which enables the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal to prepare growth plans throughout Ontario. 

The proposed legislation sets out the broad parameters – the broad strokes of the many factors that must be taken into account when developing growth plans. The proposed legislation also set out the manner in which municipalities must conform, over time, to growth plans...

…More importantly, the proposed legislation is about helping Ontario build stronger communities – communities that make better use of infrastructure; communities that can attract and sustain strong economic development and employment; communities that can offer Ontarians a better quality of life.

We have heard from the UDI that good growth management planning good infrastructure planning. 

That’s why the McGuinty government is developing a 10-year public infrastructure plan for water and wastewater, transportation, public transit, and affordable housing.

This proposed legislation would enable us to work together – municipalities, businesses, environmental and community groups, the province and the public – to develop a long-term plan setting out where and how specific regions should grow.  Bill 136 would enable us to identify specific regions as growth areas and develop growth plans for them.

Since the Greater Golden Horseshoe is the economic engine of Canada, growth pressures here are most urgent. 

That’s why our government’s first action, if Bill 136 is passed, will be to develop a growth plan for this region.

Our growth plan must be rational and coherent to ensure Ontario remains competitive because we all want a strong economy that creates good jobs and promotes a high quality of life.

That’s what Ontarians want. And the McGuinty government intends to get us there.

I especially want to emphasize the importance of economic growth.

The McGuinty government recognizes that maintaining and enhancing the quality of life for Ontarians is closely linked to maintaining our economic competitiveness.

In my books, growth management planning is not just about land use. It is also about sustaining and creating stable conditions that make it attractive for business to locate in Ontario. 

If we build better communities – communities that solve gridlock and congestion; communities that have better transportation systems; communities that maximize the benefits of soft and hard infrastructure; communities that enjoy the benefits of clean and green natural environments  -- then we create communities where businesses from all over the globe want to locate.

More recently, the McGuinty government has taken enormous strides to ensure we have clean and green natural environments.  I am of course referring to the proposed Greenbelt legislation and accompanying Greenbelt Plan introduced by my colleague, John Gerretsen, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

American humorist and writer Mark Twain once observed: “Buy land; they’re not making it any more.”  Beneath that tongue-in-cheek observation lies an immutable truth: as we grow our communities, we must also plan in a way that does not consume this precious resource. 

This proposed Greenbelt Plan would create a permanent greenbelt of environmentally sensitive and agricultural lands across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. 

I fully realize that for the UDI, the Greenbelt Plan is top of mind. I also realize that this “greening” initiative raises some fundamental questions about where we will grow in the Golden Horseshoe and how we will manage growth inside, below, on top of and around the Greenbelt.

Let me assure you; the McGuinty government will ensure that we plan and manage for growth in what is unquestionably Canada’s fastest growing region.

Our draft growth plan released last summer laid out an initial strategy for growth. 

This discussion paper also laid the groundwork for the McGuinty government’s vision for growth management in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region over the next 30 years including:

• where and how we should be growing;

• how we ensure the hard and soft infrastructure is in place to support that growth;
• how we can best maximize the use of existing infrastructure;growth and infrastructure investment strategies that will ensure Ontario has communities that will attract, develop and sustain economic growth and development;
• how we protect the environment and steer growth away from valuable resources; and
• how best to implement the overall plan.

In response to the draft growth plan some 1,600 people participated in a consultation program and I have received close to 500 written submissions – not least of which is a thoughtful response from the UDI.

All of this input is being carefully reviewed and it will help shape and influence the Ministry’s thinking as we develop and refine the growth management plan for this region.

And I want to tell you that we intend to vigorously re-engage our stakeholders including the UDI in the process of finalizing the growth management plan.

I do not intend to rush this process. I want to be sure – you want to be sure – that we get this plan right.

And getting this plan right involves several steps, not the least of which is the critical assumptions and projections that form the fundamental building blocks of a sound growth management plan.

I think you would agree that some of these building blocks include population and land supply projections and intensification targets.

It is the Ministry’s intention to further the dialogue on these projections and targets among our stakeholders in the coming weeks.

We intend to, as your President Neil Rogers would say, “road test” our analysis and projections with the UDI and other experts.

And while we will be engaging our stakeholders as we develop the growth management plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, we will also be working inside government.

For example, I will be working closely with my colleague the Honourable Harindar Takhar to ensure that our transportation strategies – another critical building block – supports and complements our growth management plan.

We will also be working closely with other ministries on developing a multi-year capital plan that will lay the groundwork for new infrastructure investments – investments that will also support our growth management plan.

Finally we will be working very closely with municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region.   After all, it is at the municipal level where the rubber hits the road in terms of implementing growth management plans.

In closing, I want to leave you with a message.

Governments are often pressed, if not measured on what you have done for me lately more than what you will do for me tomorrow.

Good governments recognize the importance of both. The McGuinty government will never lose sight of tomorrow.

Our government was elected on a promise to bring positive change to this province; change that will result in a better quality of life for Ontarians, their children, and their grandchildren.

For me, this is what growth management is all about. It is truly about making better choices. It's about building better communities. It's about building a strong economy. It's about ensuring a brighter future.

Creating a new vision for growth is an enormous opportunity. Why?

I answer this question with a very simply, yet powerful observation.

How we plan today will determine how we live tomorrow. The communities we plan – the communities we build -- will determine how we live tomorrow.

For me, for the government and for you, the developers and builders of our communities this is an enormous responsibility.

It is a tremendous opportunity to leave a lasting legacy - for our children and for the communities they will live, work and thrive in.

Thank You.